Jamie Donaldson will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina this week having climbed to his highest ever world ranking following his best major finish at the USPGA Championship.

The Macclesfield golfer has risen to a career-high 57th in the world after finishing tied seventh at the season’s final major in South Carolina on Sunday.

He made the cut at a major for the first time at last month’s Open Championship at Royal Lytham, but rounds of 69, 73, 73 and 70 at a windy and rain-drenched Kiawah Island helped him finish 10 shots behind runaway winner Rory McIlroy and pocket a cheque for $226,000.

After winning the Irish Open, and making cuts at the The Open, WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the USPGA, the 36-year-old tees off in the Wyndham Invitational on Thursday with his slim hopes of qualifying for next month’s Ryder Cup still alive.

McIlroy, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell, Paul Lawrie and Francesco Molinari currently occupy the five automatic places on the European points list, while Luke Donald, Lee Westwood, Peter Hanson, Martin Kaymer and Ian Poulter stand to qualify from the world points list.

Donaldson will have to rely on one of captain Jose Maria Olazabal’s two wild cards to make the 12-man team to face USA at the Medinah Country Club in Illinois.

But his rich vein of form has put him in contention along with Nicolas Colsaerts, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Edoardo Molinari and Miguel Angel Jimenez.